• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.109-123
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• 2023

Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as giving birth prior to the 37th week of pregnancy and is a major cause of infant mortality. Studies have indicated that the vaginal microbiota's composition and its dysbiosis, particularly during pregnancy, may play a major role in PTB. While previous research work concentrated on well-studied microorganisms such as Lactobacillus, Prevotella, Gardnerella, various other microbes, and their significance in the vaginal microbiota's stability remain unknown. Moreover, current studies have focused primarily on the relative abundances of the microbes found, without considering their interactions with other members of the vaginal microbiota. In this work, we developed a novel computational approach and performed taxonomic classification of vaginal microbiota samples stratified longitudinally (Term/PTB) to observe compositional disparities and find underexamined microbes that may be contributing to PTB. Furthermore, we carried out a correlational analysis to build a microbial co-interaction network and investigated the functional implications of the genes present in both Term and PTB samples. The co-occurrence network revealed that Lactobacillus acts in solidarity to maintain the stability of the vaginal microbiota and did not have strong co-interactions with any of the other microbes. Similarly, microbes with strong interactions with Atopobium, a well-known marker microbe of PTB, were also observed. Additionally, several genes such as PTXA, FANCM, GPX, and DUSP were found to be playing an important role in the occurrence of PTB. This study provides a novel conceptual framework revealing distinct vaginal microbiota signatures that could be potential therapeutic targets for the prevention of PTB.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.225-246
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• 2010

The family environment children are exposed to growing up greatly influences their future potential and achievements. Previous findings show that changes in family structure during childhood, particularly those resulting from divorce or death, cause lasting negative consequence that affect the child physically, psychologically, economically, and socially. Unfortunately, single-parent households are becoming increasingly common in Korea, nearly doubling to more than a million cases in the last two decades. Existing domestic and international studies of this area tend to focus on the short-term effects of growing up in a single-parent household. In addition, these studies group their samples in ways that result in findings that may be too broad or are not necessarily an accurate representation of the subjects. This study attempts to address some of these shortcomings by focusing on the long-term effects of how changes in family structure early in children's lives affect achievement during their transition to adulthood. In addition, it takes into account the development cycle the child is in at the time of family restructuring, and what kind of long-term effects result from that. In this analysis, we find that there are several cases of statistically significantly differences in domain achievement depending on the developmental stage the child was in when the parental divorce or death occurred. The findings indicate that changes in family structure during the infant/toddler period influence health condition and depression, while changes in family structure during middle-childhood and adolescence do not. Meanwhile, changes in family structure during any point in the developmental stages have negative effects on educational attainment, with the severity of these negative effects depending on when the family changes occur. The negative effect on educational attainment is most prominent when a change in family structure occurs during the infant/toddler period, followed by adolescence, then middle-childhood.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.585-587
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• 2007

Peroneal neuropathy presenting at birth is a rare disorder. Although neonatal mononeuropathies may be related to obstetrical complications, prenatal mechanisms should be also considered. We describe an infant who was born at term by cesarean section due to breech presentation with a unilateral footdrop. Lack of compound muscle action potential in the peroneal nerve and denervation potentials confined to the tibialis anterior and the extensor hallucis longus muscles in the electrophysiological studies on the fourth day of life strongly suggest an isolated peroneal neuropathy of intrauterine onset. Early and sequential electrodiagnostic studies will be important to provide better temporal and pathophysiologic definitions, the better timing of onset and prognosis for mononeuropathies presenting in newborn infants.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.9
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• pp.273-281
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• 2017

To date, preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) after birth have been managed with a combination of endotracheal intubation, surfactant instillation, and mechanical ventilation. It is now recognized that noninvasive ventilation (NIV) such as nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in preterm infants is a reasonable alternative to elective intubation after birth. Recently, a meta-analysis of large controlled trials comparing conventional methods and nasal CPAP suggested that CPAP decreased the risk of the combined outcome of bronchopulmonary dysplasia or death. Since then, the use of NIV as primary therapy for preterm infants has increased, but when and how to give exogenous surfactant remains unclear. Overcoming this problem, minimally invasive surfactant therapy (MIST) allows spontaneously breathing neonates to remain on CPAP in the first week after birth. MIST has included administration of exogenous surfactant by intrapharyngeal instillation, nebulization, a laryngeal mask, and a thin catheter. In recent clinical trials, surfactant delivery via a thin catheter was found to reduce the need for subsequent endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation, and improves short-term respiratory outcomes. There is also growing evidence for MIST as an alternative to the INSURE (intubation-surfactant-extubation) procedure in spontaneously breathing preterm infants with RDS. In conclusion, MIST is gentle, safe, feasible, and effective in preterm infants, and is widely used for surfactant administration with noninvasive respiratory support by neonatologists. However, further studies are needed to resolve uncertainties in the MIST method, including infant selection, optimal surfactant dosage and administration method, and need for sedation.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.66-71
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• 2018

Purpose: Respiratory morbidity is the most common problem among neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units. Therefore, the aim of this study was to make a differential diagnosis between transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN), respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), and pneumonia through comparison of clinical features and test results. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in 86 infants with TTN, RDS, or pneumonia. These were infants who had respiratory distress, were born after ${\geq}34$ weeks of gestation, and transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit of Kosin University Gospel Hospital between June 1, 2011 and June 30, 2016. Results: The numbers (percentage) of infants with TTN, RDS, and pneumonia were 51 (59.3%), 20 (23.3%), and 15 (17.4%), respectively. Late-preterm and early-term newborns accounted for 65.1% of the infants. Tachypnea was observed in 74.4% of the neonates. The median age at admission was 4 hours (0 to 116) after birth. The infants with RDS had significantly lower birth weights, pH levels, base excess and oxygen saturation levels at admission, longer duration of total ventilator therapy, and hospital stay than those in the other two groups. The infants with pneumonia showed significantly high initial high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels and significant chest radiographic findings. Conclusion: Early differential diagnosis for TTN, RDS, and pneumonia is challenging because they show similar respiratory symptoms at an early stage. Clinical features and test results can be used to determine the etiology of respiratory distress and early antibiotic treatment.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.343-348
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• 1993

Growth of suture line and anastomosis is required for long-term success after the tracheal and bronchial surgery in infant and pediatric patient. We used various suture materials in these cases, but the results were differ. To select the adequate suture material in tracheal surgery, we tried next. Tracheal anastomoses were performed in 150 Sprague Dawley rats, aged 4 to 8 [mean 5.8] weeks and weight 62 to 106[mean 83.6] gram, to compare polydioxanone[PDS] 7-0, polyglactin 910[Vicryl]7-0, and polypropylene [prolene] 8-0 suture materials. In 150 rats, only 29[20%] were lived over 300 days, and the weight was 250 to 320[mean 289.5]gram. Cross sectional area of the anastomoses and two or three tracheal rings below anastomosis site were measured under microscope, and calculated and compared as Hsieh`s equition. Cross-sectional area,anastomosis site/normal site 100, were 89.4 $\pm$ 5.34% in PDS group[n=9], 75.7 $\pm$ 6.06% in Vicrylgroup [n = 10], and 80.8$\pm$ 4.06% in Prolene group[n = 10]. Histopathologic studies were done for all autopsies or put in death around 300 days postoperatively. PDS absorblion was not seen 16 weeks after suture but disappeared over 24 weeks slide. Vicryl absorbtion was noted postoperative 8 to 16 weeks, with marked tissue reaction. Prolene showed least tissue reaction, but the suture material was persisted with regional fibrotic capsule.Causes of death were respiratory failure in 76 cases, tracheal rupture in 22 cases, hemorrhage, biting, starvation and etc. in 23 cases. With the brief review of literatures, we report the results.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the folate nutritional status of Korean pregnant women and to investigate the relation between folate levels of maternal-umbilical cord blood, placenta tissue, and pregnancy outcomes. The study subjects consisted of 25 pregnant women who have had normal term deliveries. Dietary folate intakes of the pregnants were estimated by semi quantitative frequency questionnaire and the serum and placenta tissue folate level was measured by microbiological analysis. The total folate intakes of the pregnant women was 655.6 ${\mu}$g/d, which was 131.1% of the Korean RDA for pregnants. Maternal serum folate level was 16.18ng/ml, which was significantly lower than that of umbilical cord blood (34.98ng/ml, p<0.05). Mean folate concentration of the placental tissue was 998.0ng/ml, which was the highest compared to maternal and umbilical cord serum level. Umbilical cord serum folate level and placental tissue folate level were highly influenced by maternal serum folate level. The umbilical cord folate levels of the infant group whose birth weight was higher than 3500g were significantly higher than the group whose birth weight was less than 3500g (p<0.05). The placental folate level was significantly higher in maternal group who showed desirable weight gain during pregnancy (11 - 14kg). In conclusion, the birth weigt was related to the umbilical cord folate level and the maternal weight gain was affected by the placental folate level.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.55-60
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the acoustic characteristics of crying infants according to the communication intents such as hunger and pain in terms of acoustic differences in the fundamental frequency ($F_0$), jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonic ratio(NHR), habitual pitch, and intensity. The subjects were 20 healthy, normal infants, less than seven days old, from the city of Seoul and were born after 38 to 42 weeks(full term) of pregnancy. The sound of crying was recorded for three minutes. The crying due to pain was induced by means of the inborn metabolism error test, whereas the crying due to hunger was verified by means of the rooting reflex by waiting for the designated eating time. The results were as follows: (1) the fundamental frequency, noise-to-harmonic ratio(NHR), and intensity of the infants' crying due to pain was higher than that by hunger, showing a significant difference between the mean values. (2) the infants' crying due to hunger and that by pain did not have a significant difference in the mean jitter and shimmer values but both of them were largely outside of the normal threshold values(jitter by 1.04% and shimmer by 3.81%). This study was significant in the sense that it showed the acoustic characteristics of infants' crying from hunger and pain were very different from each other according to the communication intents in terms of the six acoustic parameters.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 1997

The anatomical variations of the external genitalia including the hymen were observed prospectively in 1,500 female infants born between March, 1992 and July, 1992 at the Taegu Fatima Hospital. Careful inspection of the external genitalia was done within 24 hours after birth, and abnormal findings photographed. Almost all hymenal tissue appeared to be redundant. The hymen was annulus in 89.1 % of patients. Ninteen point nine percent had a central orifice and the remainder a ventral orifice. External ridges, intravaginal ridges, and clefts were present in 71.5 %, 50.7 % and 40.5 %, respectively. Congenital anomalies of the external genitalia were found in 20 patients(1.4 %). There were sixteen cases of hymenal cysts, two hymenal polyps, one imperforate hymen, and one Skene's duct cyst. Seven of the 16 hymenal cysts with stalks were excised and those without stalk were aspirated. Hymenal polyps were excised. Imperforate hymen was incised and drained, and Skene's duct cyst was aspirated successfully. The surgical procedure were done without anesthesia, and the results have been good. In conclusion, routine physical examination of the female newborn infant detects frequent developmental anomalies. The significance of those anomalies will be clarified after longitudinal long-term followup studies.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2009

Neurodevelopmental outcomes of very low birth weight infants (VLBWI) and extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWI) in Korea on 14 reports from 1984 to 2008 were analyzed. Follow-up rates were varied from 42.9% to 90.2%. Duration of follow-up ranged from 4 months to 5 years. The prevalence of cerebral palsy (CP) of VLBWI was as follows: 4.3-5.3% in 1980s, 7.1-9.1 % in 1990s and 3.6-15.6% in 2000s. CP was noted in 8.2-30.8% of ELBWI on studies reported in 2000s. Delayed Mental development was diagnosed in 2.0-17.9% of VLBWI and in 20.4-30.8% of ELBWI. Sensory impairments such as hearing loss or visual deficit were reported in 3.1-3.6% of VLBWI and 0.0-10.0% of ELBWI. Seizure disorder was reported in 5.3% of VLBWI by one report. No reports for minor neurodevelopmental dysfunctions in VLBWI and ELBWI were found from 1984 to 2008. It is necessary to establish basic protocols and nationwide systems for long-term follow-up study to obtain valuable data.